Society

Dalai Lama 'wolf in monk's robes': official

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-07 19:13

BEIJING - The Party chief of Tibet, Zhang Qingli, reiterated Monday that the Dalai Lama is a "wolf in monk's robes" and again blamed the Dalai clique for separating China.

"I had described him in those words after the March 14 riot in Lhasa in 2008 because I think he himself is a living Buddha but had done things beneath his status," Zhang told reporters while attending the annual parliamentary session in Beijing.

He accused the Dalai Lama of instigating the riot three years ago, which left 18 people dead and nearly 400 wounded.

He said that he had actually quoted the words of late Premier Zhou Enlai to described the Dalai Lama in that way.

He said Zhou referred to the Dalai Lama as "wolf in monk's robes" after the central government foiled an armed rebellion staged by the Dalai Lama and his supporters in 1959. The Dalai Lama then fled to India and created the self-declared "Tibetan government-in-exile".

"I used Premier Zhou's words to say that I object to double-dealer and ensure a correct understanding of the fact," he said.

Zhang also made comparisons between the Dalai Lama and Rebiya Kadeer, a Uygur separatist and leader of the World Uygur Congress.

"Rebiya is a housewife who has used her illegal fortune to conduct secessionist activities. She has no influence among the public," he said.

"While Dalai is a secessionist chief who fools simple believers under the guise of religion," he said.

Zhang has worked in Tibet for five years and he said that the most difficult time was in 2008.

"Some anti-China forces in the West supported the Dalai Lama in staging the March 14 riot, which inflicted heavy losses in Tibet and brought huge calamities to the Tibetan people," he said.

"They had evil intentions to kidnap the Olympics, bring chaos to Tibet and separate China," he said.

"The Tibetan people have been aware that unity and stability are a fortune, and separation and unrest are a disaster," he said, adding that the current situation in Tibet is on the whole stable.